Viewing website content with current browsers requires a local application with an embedded web browser. There are many problems with these approaches. Local applications embedded in web browsers restrict the user to employ only the functions implemented by the local application. Users then invest a lot of time tweaking their web browser with multiple plug-ins, skins, hotkeys and other functions. Many website visitors also have strong preferences between Microsoft Internet Explorer, Firefox-Mozilla and other available browsers, becoming comfortable with how a given browser functions, its quirks, what works and what doesn't. By forcing the user into an embedded browser application, the user is dislodged from their comfortable operating environment and forces them to master a user-perceived inefficient downloading process.
Embedded browsers add to the burden on application builders to re-implement many of the expected features which do not come with the embedded browser object, such as tool bars, status bars, tabbed browsing, print functions and nearly all functions found outside of a browsers main viewing area. Another issue with today's approaches is that the local application is required to be running when the playlists are utilizing local derived functions such as the local download manger component of the software.
Applications such as Apple's iTunes, RealMedia's Rhapsody, Yahoo's MusicMatch and Microsoft's Zune all enable passing information from a web page to their local applications and so require that a local application be running and the web pages be viewed within an embedded browser to enable additional functionality. In some cases they use content types, which are sent from a web server and matched against a client's list of programs that are responsible for handling the data being received from the server. These solutions are not ideal as they require that the link on the web page return a specific content-type, be mapped on the client matching and then launch the corresponding application. The local application is content-type specific and requires additional links to restore browser functionality. These additional links are burdensome for the user to read and clutter the webpage.